Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

Saban says team needs to regain its 'mojo'

Alabama coach Nick Saban talks to offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin following the first half of the A-Day game at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa on April 18.(Photo: MICKEY WELSH/ADVERTISER FILE)Buy Photo

DOTHAN – Nick Saban has seen a lot of things change throughout his time at Alabama, and not all of them have been positive.

There was a time, Saban recalls, when teams were afraid of playing Alabama. But after two season-ending Sugar Bowl losses, that sense of being feared is no longer there.

Saban said the Crimson Tide needs to regain their "mojo," which he described as "momentum" along with "your enthusiasm, your spirit."

"When we first came to Alabama, a lot of guys came to Alabama to make Alabama some place special," Saban said Tuesday during his Crimson Caravan stop in Dothan. "But when you have a lot of success, sometimes people come to Alabama for what Alabama can do for them.

"That's a completely different dynamic in terms of how you motivate, what your goals are and how you develop team chemistry."

Saban went on to say that he likes the group of players Alabama has heading into next season, and added that he feels the team will "get some of those things back" when it comes to their "mojo."

Saban attributed some of the Tide's issues to players and others within the organization allowing the outside pressure to affect them. Saban has long preached that the team should focus more on the process rather than the end result, but that message may not have been received in recent years.

"We got too many people worried about winning and losing, and not enough about what we need to do to play our best and be our best all the time," Saban said. "Be physical and aggressive. That's what we need to get back to. That's what I'd like for our expectation to be."

After winning back-to-back national championships in 2011 and 2012, Alabama has sputtered down the stretch for the past two seasons.

In 2013, the Tide entered the Iron Bowl 11-0 before losing to in-state rival Auburn on one of the more improbable plays in college football history. Then there was the inexplicable Sugar Bowl loss to Oklahoma.

Last season, the Tide made it to the inaugural College Football Playoff where they were bounced by eventual national champion Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl semifinal. With that said, Saban doesn't believe the Tide's identity has "faded." He just didn't like the way Alabama "finished the last two years."

"I thought that people were putting a lot of pressure on themselves to win big games," Saban said. "In the old days, we went just went out and played those games and tried to dominate the competition. We didn't worry about the importance of the game.

"The success has gotten to some people and gotten to some guys. We just need to forget about that and go play our best."